The news comes courtesy of Soulsborne fan, modder and streamer Lance McDonald, who has delved into Elden Ring to discover content cut from the final build. The network test build of the game from last year included a number of sleeping enemies that were cut from the final game. McDonald uses this version to test out the mechanic. A (now cut) monk character would originally have been found at the Scavenger’s Shack who would ask the player to find the ingredients for dreambrew, nectar of the demigods, used to “uncover someone’s deepest, darkest secrets”....

Some players missed the tutorial entirely as it required you to intentionally fall down a hole: something that feels like trolling. Elden Ring has drawn plenty of newcomers to the Soulsborne games, so missing the tutorial meant a particularly tough start. Now players are greeted with an unmissable prompt as they approach the precipice where the tutorial takes place, as verified by Eurogamer. “Jump down the hole ahead, and you will find the Cave of Knowledge,” it reads....

As reported by DualShockers, speedrunner and streamer Hazeblade has now finished the game in under 25 minutes, beating the previous record of 29 minutes by Distortion2. Hazeblade has used a glitch called zipping or wrong warping that allows players to teleport across the map and skip large parts of the game. Interestingly, he doesn’t choose the Samurai class at the start like other speedrunners have (he goes with Warrior instead), but he does still pick up the Icerind Hatchet weapon that’s proven popular for its freezing ability....

Make It Count will, among other things, introduce new boss Meyer Lansky - AKA the Mob’s Accountant, a prominent figure in the real-life American organised crime scene of the era. Lansky joins Empire of Sin’s existing 14-strong boss roster and is said to excel at economics and create combat synergy in-game. On the subject of gangsters, Make It Count adds another five, all with the new Fixer profession - used to mediate conflict between gangsters and smooth over fractious relationships....

The PC marketplace increased its registered users by 34 million in 2021, up to 194 million total, with a daily active user peak of 31.1 million. Epic Games Store now hosts 917 titles - almost doubling its catalogue over the past 12 months - with $840m spent. Epic says that “more than $300m of this” was on third-party games - which means that a larger $540m was spent on Epic’s own published games....

It’s described as a “shared world survival crafting game” set within a fantasy world inspired by a dark take on Victorian era, and is the first project from the newly-renamed studio Inflexion Games (formerly Improbable Canada). Tonight’s trailer, which premiered during The Game Awards, shows a labyrinth of realms navigated using Stargate-like portals, with players able to tackle enormous eldritch monsters solo or with others. Combat and exploration then feeds into the game’s “robust” crafting system, with materials used to build settlements and farms to grow communities and live off the land - as well as acquire better gadgetry....

During the meeting, which took place on Tuesday, the shareholder asked Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa if the company would consider making new games or remakes of its dormant series, specifically F-Zero. As translated by VGC, Furukawa replied: “It is realistically difficult to develop new titles and remakes, including sequels, for every Nintendo game that people request, but we are very grateful and appreciate the expectations our fans have for our games....

As has become annual tradition at Minecraft Live, fans are given the opportunity to vote for one of three mobs to be added in a future update. This year, as we previously reported, the three potential mobs were the Allay, Glare and Copper Golem mobs. The voting took place on Twitter and the Allay was chosen, after the Glare was eliminated in the first round. You can watch the results on the video below from Minecraft Live: The Allay is a cute little creature who is a “huge music buff and loves to dance”....

In fact it turns out that finding the perfect combination of Individual Chemistry, Team Chemistry, and Chemistry Styles - three factors that we’ll explain below - can set you up for a whopping total of 90 points increase in each player’s attributes, averaging at about 10 points increased to each skill affected by a Chemistry Style modifier. That’s roughly the equivalent of turning a Silver card into a Gold, or a standard Gold into a top-tier, in-form rare card....

As usual, the cards featured in the latest Team of the Week are officially available in packs from Wednesday, 4th December at 6pm UK time, where they’ll be around for seven days before the next TOTW comes into play. FIFA 20 TOTW 12: starting XI Cillessen - GK - 85 - Valencia Van Dijk - CB - 91 - Liverpool Carvajal - RB - 86 - Real Madrid Bender - RB - 83 - Bayer Leverkusen Alli - CAM - 86 - Tottenham Hotspur Fekir - RM - 86 - Real Betis Odegaard - CM - 82 - Real Sociedad Fischer - LM - 82 - Copenhagen Immobile - ST - 88 - Lazio Arnautovic - ST - 84 - Shanghai SIPG Mitrovic - ST - 84 - Fulham...

As we explain our main FIFA 22 Chemistry guide, we can’t emphasise their importance enough, with certain attributes boosted by up to a whopping fifteen points each, totalling a massive 90 attribute points, rather than the standard 5 across the board. Below you’ll find our explanation of the best FIFA Chemistry Styles for each position alongside a full Chemistry Styles list, so you know every attribute affected by every Chem Style available....

During a Japanese livestream covering the mobile battle royale Final Fantasy 7: The First Soldier, Nomura mentioned that news would be coming next month as part of the Final Fantasy 7 25th anniversary. Presumably this could be news on part two of the Final Fantasy 7 Remake, as well as other projects in the works. Resetera user Xenosaga noted Nomura’s comment, as have users on Twitter. The news follows Final Fantasy 16 producer Naoki Yoshida promising a trailer for that game would be coming soon....

Set on Elyos, you play as Alear, a divine dragon who’s spent the last millennium sleeping after defeating the Fell Dragon, Sombron. With both sides awake once more, it’s a race to recover the twelve Emblem rings, each housing the spirit of a former hero. Engage falls into some tired tropes like the amnesiac protagonist, though I’m currently enjoying its character writing. Alear’s a charming leader, and there’s a likable supporting cast, even if I do miss the moral greyness that made Three Houses (and Fates, somewhat) so intriguing....

As reported by GamesIndustry.biz, Criterion’s vice president and general manager Matt Webster has left the studio after 23 years, as has head of studio development and 17-year Criterion veteran Alan McDairmant. They’re joined by senior technical director Andrei Shires, who has been with the company for 16 years, as well as executive producer Pete Lake, who first joined Criterion in 1996. Head of content Steve Uphill also leaves following his most recent 10-year stint at Criterion....

World Update 7 - which follows similar geographical makeovers for Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK, and the United States - is available now on Xbox and PC, bringing with it updated satellite imagery, a new digital elevation model, four new airports (plus increased detail for over 100 others), 94 new custom points of interest, and 16 new activities....

The original For The King, if you’re unfamiliar, was a thoroughly entertaining (if sometimes brutally challenging) blend of familiar RPG stables - think dungeon crawling, questing, turn-based exploration and combat, loot acquisition, and so on - streamlined into a light-hearted, optionally co-operative rogue-like adventure. More than anything, it was a wonderfully designed little story generator - encompassing everything from haunted carnivals to suffocating jungles - with enough potential combinations across its moving parts to feel sufficiently different each run....

As reported by French outlet Gamekult (via Gamesindustry.biz), an appeal court has invalidated the redundancies that led to the closure of the branch in 2020. As such, those looking to seek further legal actions will now potentially be entitled to “further compensations, equivalent to a minimum of six months of salary”. But while this is certainly still a victory in itself, it does not mean former Blizzard Versailles employees will find their positions reinstated in a different studio....

Hennig, perhaps best known for her work as head writer and creative director on Naughty Dog’s first three Uncharted games, joined Skydance back in 2019. Prior to that, she was working on a highly-anticipated Star Wars title in conjunction with Visceral Games - a long-in-development project which was ultimately cancelled by EA. Skydance Media is the Hollywood studio behind the likes of Mission: Impossible - Fallout and Terminator: Dark Fate, but Hennig’s arrival at the company in 2019 signified its first step into video games....

Appearing during Week 6, and following on getting orders from a payphone, this task is rather straightforward if you know where to go. This challenge will reward you with 45k XP, which will help you unlock Battle Stars for the Season 7 Battle Pass. Note this particular challenge is no longer able to be completed. What’s new? Chapter 3 Season 3 has arrived! New additions include Reality Seeds and Saplings and riding animals, along with the new Battle Pass, characters collection and map changes....

Raiding these Quinjets will provide you with valuable loot, which could be what ultimately wins you the match. Stay wary, however, as each Quinjet is guarded by a number of Stark Robots and they certainly don’t want you taking anything off their plane. Both the Quinjets and the Stark Robots are part of the Marvel theme for Season 4, which is also represented by the Battle Pass skins that you can unlock....